Royals Are Beginning to Break Their Winter Silence
During a Tuesday evening community listening event centered around a future downtown baseball stadium and its related ballpark district, Kansas City Royals Chairman and CEO John Sherman also addressed a few other things. One of those topics was free agency, and for good reason: Kansas City hadn't done much at all to that point.
One move had already been made earlier in the day, however, with the club bringing catcher Jakson Reetz back on a minor-league deal with an invite to spring training. In 21 games to close out his 2022 minor league campaign with Triple-A Omaha, Reetz slashed .257/.341/.514 while hitting five home runs and logging 15 RBIs in the process. It had been reported in recent weeks that the Royals were interested in adding a backup catcher and while it's possible that Reetz works his way into those plans, he likely doesn't check that box. More work probably continues on that front despite that signing.
The transactions didn't stop there. Just a couple of hours after Sherman told everyone to "watch the wire" for potential pitching additions, the Royals announced that they had signed lefty Ryan Yarbrough to a one-year deal. Right-handed relief pitcher Wyatt Mills was DFA'd in order to make room for Yarbrough, who comes over from the Tampa Bay Rays organization and has a very clear connection to new Royals manager Matt Quatraro.
Yarbrough, who turns 31 at the end of the year, was inked to a one-year deal worth a base guarantee of $3 million with another $1M available via performance bonuses. He's only pitched for Tampa Bay, owning a career 40-31 record with a 4.33 ERA across 579.2 innings of work. By FanGraphs' estimation, the Old Dominion product was a positive contributor in terms of WAR in every season except this past one. In 2022, injuries held him to just 80 innings pitched and he posted a 4.50 ERA with a 4.77 FIP over that span.
More of a hybrid piece than a pure starter, Yarbrough has started in 59 of his 127 career appearances at the major league level. With arms such as Daniel Lynch, Kris Bubic, Jonathan Heasley and others competing for rotations spots in 2023 and Brady Singer being firmly entrenched as a top-of-the-rotation starter, Yarbrough will likely be used as more of an innings-eater in multiple roles. He's a low-strikeout pitcher, although he also limits walks and hard contact. That may sound familiar to another arm Kansas City deployed in 2022.
In early November, it was reported that 39-year-old Zack Greinke was expected to return to baseball for yet another season. Jon Heyman of the New York Post wrote that the Royals were interested in a return, and that matches just about everything that executive vice president of baseball operations and general manager J.J. Picollo has said since the season ended. Over a month later, no official move has been made by either side. Could Greinke be another part of that aforementioned "pitching talent" Sherman mentioned? There's ample reason to anticipate that.
At any rate, Kansas City is beginning to break the offseason silence it held for quite some time while the rest of the baseball world was busy making moves. Picollo said during winter meetings that the Royals would be more of a late-market team than an early one, and that can still ring true. With a ton of young talent already on the roster, any external additions need to be made via calculated decision-making. Giving Reetz another chance and signing Yarbrough could be the start of that process, with the door being left open for things continuing to pick up at least a bit.
